To the Editor:
With news of the possible take-over of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan by Australia's BHP Billiton or others, our province's people face an historic choice about the future of our potash resource. Saskatchewan has a thousand-year supply of the highest-quality potash needed to supply increasing world demand. Basic global demographic and economic trends mean that today's choices will affect us for generations.
Though the times call for bold and deliberate defence of the rights and interests of the resource's owners, Saskatchewan people have been let down by the Wall government's weak and indecisive leadership on this defining issue of our generation. With corporate captains preparing bids and counter-bids, and federal bureaucrats and politicians meeting quietly in advance of a possible deal, Wall has daily shifted positions, showing no evidence of an action plan, nor even an intention to collect the views of this strategic resource's owners.
He has even farmed out the responsibility for analysis, advice and action on our potash's future to economists based in Central Canada! His directionless dithering means that the people of Saskatchewan risk losing their chance to be heard at this crucial time. CEOs are having their say in the boardrooms of Melbourne and Chicago; bureaucrats and economists are having their say behind closed doors in Central Canada; and federal politicians are having their say in the corridors of power in Ottawa. Where and when do the resource's owners get to have our say?
Section 20 (e) of the Investment Canada Act says the expressed will of the legislature of a province likely to be significantly affected by a major foreign take-over must factor into any review of the deal. That's why I've proposed that our legislature be the place, and today be the time that the voices of Saskatchewan's people be heard as decisions are made about our resource that will affect our standard of living for generations to come.
Here's our plan.
First, the Wall government should join us in telling Stephen Harper that he and his Ottawa bureaucrats can approve no sale of PCS without the people of Saskatchewan first being heard. Then, the government should immediately call a special session of the legislature to set the terms and conditions under which our potash will be developed, mined and sold in the future.
To determine those conditions, public hearings should be broadcast from the legislative chamber itself, with all MLAs sitting as a committee of the whole, so citizens can see where each of their representatives stands on these critical issues. All citizens wishing to be heard should be invited, including potash industry workers and their representatives, local governments, community groups and organizations, and First Nations and Metis.
These hearings should invite comment on such possible terms and conditions as:
Enhanced legislation requiring a more significant PCS Head Office presence in Saskatchewan;
Firm commitments to expand the potash sector in Saskatchewan, and increase the number of potash mining jobs;
Guarantees that the potential corporate owners accept our current royalty and taxation regimes, and our right to change those regimes in the future;
Guarantees that the potential corporate owners accept the need for a highly skilled and trained unionized workforce in our potash industry;
A full, transparent review of the potential corporate owners' record of corporate social responsibility with respect to environmental stewardship, community contributions, workplace safety and human rights;
Guarantees that the federal government will force potential corporate owners to live up to any agreements made under the federal review process, imposing sanctions if they break the terms or try to change them.
Following the hearings, the legislature should draft, debate and pass a Joint Resolution setting out the specific terms and conditions under which we wish to see our potash resource developed, mined and sold in the future. These terms and conditions will instruct Stephen Harper on what he must require of any potential PCS purchaser on our behalf.
Everyone we have consulted with over these past few weeks, from average citizens, to industry experts, to potash miners and their unions, to local governments has delivered the same basic message: "Give us a voice." The potash belongs to us all, and we must all be involved in these critical decisions. The NDP plan allows for just that, and so we call on the Wall government to implement it immediately, so all Saskatchewan people can have a voice in these historic decisions. The time for informed action is long past.
Dwain Lingenfelter, Leader of the Opposition, MLA for Regina Douglas Park.
